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AS I SEE IT

Posted 1/24/17 (Tue)

By Neal A. ShipmanFarmer Editor

A soon-to-be-finalized agreement between the Watford City Park Board, the Watford City Economic Development Corporation and Williston State College will bring a TrainND workforce training site to Watford City’s Rough Rider Center. And that is definitely good news to workers and businesses in McKenzie County, as well as being a big plus for the city.
Currently businesses who want to train their staff for oilfield or non-oilfield jobs or for people who are trying to receive training for other jobs after being displaced have been forced to travel to either Williston or Dickinson. And traveling those distances for training is not only an inconvenience, but it is a costly expense.
As reported in this week’s front page story, according to TrainND CEO Deanette Piesik of Williston State College, 24 Watford City companies have sent over 2,000 employees to Williston for training. Imagine, the savings in both time and cost of being able to provide that level of training in Watford City. Or the opportunity to offer these training opportunities to companies in Killdeer, New Town or other area communities.
As Watford City’s and McKenzie County’s population continues to increase, the need for more and more locally-based workforce training, as well as advanced educational opportunities in our community continues to grow.
And that is where the new TrainND training center will pay big dividends for businesses, individuals and the community in the future. Having employee workforce training opportunities in Watford City will be a big plus when companies are looking to either expand their base of operations or to move into the county. Having a local training option can make the difference when businesses look to where they are going to be doing their business and housing their employees.
So when you couple the opening of the TrainND training center with the classes that are being provided by the University of Mary’s Watford City campus at the Rough Rider Center, it becomes evident that slowly, but surely Watford City and McKenzie County are evolving into quality places to live and work.